A slightly more decadent Calas: Cocoa Calas

So the Chicklet has been home with a bit of a toddler-style, No-Day-Care allowed cold for the first couple days this week. I didn’t realize how tired *I* was until I decided to follow HER sleep schedule these few days at home. BOY! We slept until 10:00AM and took naps in the afternoon, even! I swear I felt refreshed…. that is until last night when she went to bed at 8:30PM and my husband sacked out next to her. There was NO WAY I could stay in bed any longer. It gave me a whole two hours of down time…. no baby latched to my leg as I attempt to walk, to dishes to do, lunches all packed, checkbook balanced (yes, we do that!), etc. TWO HOURS! Lord, have mercy!

So… what did I do? I sat on the couch and watched Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (re-runs, at that!) with a complete lack of brainwaves. Pitiful, right? Yes, but completely delightful too. Sometimes I think a little mellowed out time is good for all of us. I’m not so sure the TV is a necessary component of that, but it was nice to watch someone else’s chaos for a bit rather than muddling through my own. (Ah… if only there were little elves and fairies who graded papers and tests at night…….)

To make the Chicklet feel a little better, I have been back in the kitchen backing and cooking. Tuesday, I had just put some rice in the rice cooker (my mommy-doesn’t-have-to-watch-it-boil gadget) when my husband walked in the door and announced that he was taking us out for dinner. Hey! Who am I to argue? I was up and prepping the diaper bag before he could change his mind. The only “problem” was the cooking rice. I knew we could leave the rice cooker on as it would just switch to “keep warm” mode once the rice was done…. but what to do with that “leftover” rice?

What do you do with leftover rice?

At our house, the leftover rice is most frequently used up by:

packing it in lunches with leftover stir-fry

served up for snacks (or packed in lunches) as onigiri (even the Chicklet likes her onigiri!)

converted into a quick rice porridge (although to be honest, it’s not as good as when made with fresh rice grains)

Calas - we use a variation on this recipe, but we add more vanilla, some cream cheese and cinnamon and then we fry it up a little longer so the outside bits are a bit crunchy too.

It’s that last one that might be new to some of you. Calas are great and really rather easy (if you don’t mind frying things in oil). While the recipes you find online will vary with the amount of eggs (sometimes 2, sometimes 3, etc) or the amount of flour required (sometimes as little as 6 Tablespoons or as much as 1 cup) even though they have the same amount of rice (typically 2 cups of leftover rice), it’s easy to convert the recipes to gluten free. Select the one that has less flour in it as that will make it easier (we really like the one linked about), and have a go. Once you see how easy and delicious, start changing that recipe to match your tastes! For example, for the recipe linked above, we do the following now:

Mix together all ingredients (minus vegetable oil and topping of choice) in your mixer well. (OR … if the presence of rice kernels in a doughnut are enough to make you cringe, then mix it together in your food processor as the blade will chop those bad-boy rice kernels in to smitherings. You may want to watch this as when I’ve done it in the past, I have added a 1/4 cup more of leftover rice to the mix just to make sure it’s not to mushy to form blobs for frying.)

Heat your frying oil to 350F. Drop (carefully!) the calas by the tablespoon into the hot oil and fry until deep golden brown on the outside. (A tad longer if you like to have a little crunch… oh-so-good!). Drain on paper towels after removing with a slotted spoon. Dust with powdered sugar or shake in a bag with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar or drizzle with honey.

Enjoy while warm!

See? EASY!

To make COCOA Calas: add 1/4 cup of unsweetened dark cococa powder to your mix. And keep that cream cheese there – it adds to the yummy goodness and smooth taste of the calas.

Yes, I know. Cream cheese is NOT a standard calas ingredient. But, go with me, will ya? It’s DELICIOSO!

My typical use for leftover rice is to eat it lukewarm with a little vinegar or Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. In college I used to heat it up, top with some shredded cheese and pour on the salsa.

The other week I made a sushi salad with some leftover sushi rice. I heated it just a bit to take the chill off. Then I added chopped cucumbers, avocado, tomatoes and pickled ginger and bit of smoked salmon. Then added more sushi vinegar. yum-o!

Hey, I’ve been reading and rereading some of your recipes, looking for all kinds of information.

I found the recipe for GF croissants, which I wanted to try, but I’ve found that a certain companies’ GF mix is, well, heavy. I think it would make a lovely whole wheat style bread, but there is just to much umami in the mix to make good baked goods.

So I was hoping to try your GF flour mix, especially now that I see you’ve recreated Calas. I just have one question, really.

I cannot find a source of Sweet Rice flour. I have a nicely fine rice flour that I have found, as well the other ingredients in your blend. Is there something I can substitute directly for the sweet rice that won’t add a large amount of flavor?

Thanks so much for all you do. I was diagnosed Celiac about three years ago, and let me tell you, living without pizza, ramen and doughnuts on a college student budget is pretty darn hard.

Thank you for giving a few of my old comfort foods back.

Also – I just remembered – in the croissant post you mentioned turkey and cheddar cheese fillings – how did you make those and get them into the croissants?

Jenny – You should be able to find sweet rice flour (otherwise called MOCHI flour) at Asian Markets (under $1.25/box or bag) or even your local grocer for under $2.00/box. There really is not a substitute for sweet rice flour – but some use tapioca. I’ve never tried that, so I can’t vouch for it, sorry!

And you are right, baked goods (breads, especially) require special mixes. A general GF mix does not work for breads – but it will work for quick breads or muffins, usually. You have to watch your liquid balance.

And the croissants – while time consuming like gluten-filled croissants are to make – they are delicious! I just rolled the turkey/cheese up in the croissant dough as I rolled it up.
Good luck!
Kate

Tragically, I live in a little bitty town thirty miles outside of a marginally larger town. My local grocery has something that could be, if one were generous, called an Asian section, but the nearest true Asian store is about two and a half hours from here. I’ll keep an eye out, and try subbing in tapioca for the sweet rice. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

I finally have some leftover rice (my brothers tend to eat it all at meal times, leaving no excess to use up) and I’m hoping to have a go at this recipe However, I’m a little shy of deep frying, do you think these would be alright shallow fried or baked instead? Also, any idea how long they would keep for? I don’t know how many would get eaten immediately (as other than me, most of my family don’t eat much sweet things that aren’t actually candies) but I don’t want to end up with food poisoning from old rice!